On Tuesday Allan wrote this...

"Well..." (like Ronald Reagan used to say), here we are still in Hillsborough, NC.

Saturday night we had fun meeting Bob and Karen, long time friends of the home owners here.  Becky cooked up a big roast complete with carrots, onions and celery (not mirepoix) along with some spices and flavors that made for a superb meal. Karen brought along her fantastic blueberry pie made with only the freshest ingredients, topped off with a little Bryers (not "carb smart" -- instead, the real good ice cream that's not good for you) -- vanilla ice cream.  To say the red and white wine and the dinner were all good is a gigantic understatement. More like "deliciouso."

This pic, taken with my iPod, reveals that we were poor hosts....
their wine glasses are empty! But that didn't mean that the
conversation waned or that our wonderful guests were not
at their peak of interresante et amustante

We talked about history, about North Carolina, about one anothers' lives -- so many topics. It was a huge amount of fun getting to know Karen and Bob, even just a little bit.  By evening's end we hugged warmly, said goodnight and wished one another good fortune.

Karen and Bob - super folks!

Now, the other day when we met Joyce, she advised that we should really take time to get into Hillsborough to check out the art galleries. And if hungry, to eat at The Gulf Rim.

So we did.

I tried to buy Becky a pair of crocheted silver wire ear rings at one of the art galleries, but she said she's already got too much jewelry.  (But hey, where can you find crocheted silver wire made into jewelry??? That is so rare and so neat! Just imagine trying to crochet with silver wire!  My friends, I can't even imagine how the artist came up with that idea...much less actually accomplished those beautiful pieces of jewelry she made.) Instead I bought a small print of a very cool acrylic painting from an New Age-y artist known as Carmen. As we left, the sweet lady at the art gallery suggested  we visit the hardware store in town.

So we did.

It's been there for over 60 years. It's a total mess inside. There is no known computer program that could even approximately keep track of the inventory in that store. The only way to know what's there is to ask.  Then, the man who's run it for the past 40 years will say, "Well, give me just a minute." When he comes back he's got exactly what you want. Only he and God know where he found it among all the piles of stuff, junk, flotsam and jetsam that stock his shelves. It's an amazing place and I'm so glad we went there.

And there Becky found a fuzzy paint brush she needs for some of her art work.  She asked me, "What do you think of a woman who turns down a $40 pair of ear rings for a $3 paint brush?"  I told her, "Hey babe, you're a cheap date."  hahaha

So downtown Hillsborough was fun.  We had lunch at The Gulf Rim -- Becky had a hearts of palm and avocado salad, I had the seafood mix. Wonderful.

All the style guides for freelance writers tell you to never begin a sentence with "And" or "But."

But, Monday was probably the high point of our trip to NC. We drove about 2-1/2 hours to Wilmington, a sea port city and the largest city in NC. My only prior experience with Wilmington was back in the 1990's when my son and I drove over from Atlanta to go deep sea fishing.  Neither of us caught anything worth noting, however I did "catch" a gigantic, miserable, unrelenting, disgusting, never-ending case of sea sickness that lasted about eight  hours and drained me of virtually all life, all energy and all wish to continue living.

This trip was much more fun.  Becky and I went to the visitor's bureau and talked to Mary Ann there about  the entire Cape Fear area. We checked out the board walk ( a 2-mile walk along the Cape Fear river that eventually dumps into the Atlantic ocean.) We got some ideas on where one might want to live in the area. And we collected a duffel bag full of literature.

Kure Beach, one of four or five in the Wilmington area

You see, this house sitting adventure has been largely about finding a place we'd like to move to and live out our lives. Maybe, after just a couple of house sits, we've found a good place:  Wilmington and its environs.

More to come.  And in the meantime, many BIG THANKS to our wonderful hosts and home owners (Chris and Jeff) here in Hillsborough -- for choosing us to watch over their property.  It has been a great pleasure and we've enjoyed this visit to a wonderful part of the USA.

On Thursday evening Allan wrote...

Becky is still wearing the cast on her right arm from having broken her wrist. So I'm writing for both of us today.

We're house sitting in Hillsborough, North Carolina, enjoying a beautiful home situated at the edge of what the owners call "The Hundred Acre Woods."  And indeed, there are well over 100 acres filled with cedar trees, hardwoods and -- due to a hurricane that blew through during the mid-1990's -- quite a few downed trees. The owners have blazed trails all through the woods where they walk their dogs a couple times each day.

On Tuesday, our first night here, Becky and I played a few hands of cards then retired for the night. "Retiring" included getting the two dogs -- Maggie and Blue -- situated on their very own leather couch. They like to sleep with blankets and stuffed toys.  So we put them to bed and said "good night." Then, about 4:30AM we were awakened by their footsteps in the hall outside our bedroom. In a flash both of them jumped into bed with us, followed a while later by one of the two cats. Neither of us ever quite got back to sleep.

Maggie snoozing with Becky

Blue just had to get under the blankets

The cats eat on the counter top to
prevent the dogs from getting
their food.

Becky and dogs walking in the woods

One of many historical memorials around town.

We went into Durham today to look around and found a mountain of information at the Visitor's Bureau. So we took a short walk around some of the downtown area. The city has some of the feel of Portland. For example, we ate at a restaurant that is very green -- they recycle almost everything, use only LED lighting, buy locally and make virtually all their own ingredients.  Further, with the huge campus of Duke University, Durham is a top example of a college town. There's lots of culture here and plenty to see and do. Durham just might make our short list of places we'll eventually move to. Time (and more travel) will tell.

This is actually Stop #41 on the Walking Art Tour of Durham. Either
that, or something a little kinky (LOL)

We decided to explore a bit on Wednesday by visiting Seagrove, NC. It's a small town that's home to dozens and dozens of pottery makers. We walked through a couple of the galleries until Becky found the piece that she says goes so well with the colors in our living room.

We're having a local couple over for dinner on Saturday and hope they can tell us a bit more about North Carolina and some of its cities. Maybe they'll give us some ideas about which cities are "the best." Becky and I are both curious about the coastal and Inner Banks towns. Maybe we'll drive over to the coast one day next week.